Tuesday Tidbits: Book Marketing. Does it Work?

This isn’t going to be a boring statistics filled post, although it should be. Keeping detailed records of where books sales are coming from is important to determine whether your money is being wasted of not.

There’s just one problem: You are never going to be 100% sure that what you do is leading to a sale, unless you only advertise on one platform and don’t mention your book to anyone…ever.

Can it be that difficult? Yup. Let me break it down.

I blog about my books, not all the time, because no one wants to be “bookwacked” every time they come to my blog. Of course there are always links to my books because I’m proud of them and I hope that they get purchased and enjoyed. I can tell if a link gets clicked (but not who clicked it), but does that lead to a sale? I don’t know.

I have links in my newsletter, and I can tell which subscriber clicks them, but does that lead to a sale? Again, I don’t know. I mention my books on various social media platforms. Some will give stats if a post is viewed or a link is ‘engaged’ with, but does that lead to a sale?

OK. You know where I am going with this. Unless a reader tells me directly, “I bought your book because I saw it on [insert platform/website here].

Of course, I can tell when a book gets sold. It shows me on my Amazon dashboard. Some sales can be loosely connected to the group promos and swaps with other authors. If my book is featured in another author’s newsletter on Thursday, and there is a sale on Friday (there’s usually a 1 day delay in reporting), that might be why. But wait? My newsletter came out in Wednesday and there was a click to my book, so maybe that was it.

Hmm, one of the group promos I am in got shared this week as well. Oh, and I did a post on Instagram on Monday and it got a like on Tuesday, and then there’s Twitter/X, I added my book to someone’s post.

Confusing. I bet you are wondering about that spike in sales on Jan. 4th. I did a paid promotion on Jan. 3rd so that must have worked. right? Probably the majority of them, but I had a newsletter go out as well, so…

So what’s up with the “Best books for readers who don’t think they like science fiction” graphic? Just another platform I’m trying to reach more readers, called Sheperd.com. Is it like Goodreads, Reedsy, Bookbub, or any of the many others out there? I guess. Why don’t you let me know what you think?

The best books for readers who don’t think they like science fiction

-Leon

Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.

My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/

Sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter and receive a free book!

Oh, pick me! C’mon, space stuff!